September 2013: 10 Most Popular Posts

This just-hatched bearded pygmy chameleon, Rieppeleon brevicaudatus, may someday outsize the matchstick it's perched on—but just barely. Adults grow to a scant five centimeters in length. "BIOPROTECTOR":At 0.6 millimeter across, Typhlodromus pyri is a fierce predatory mite that hunts other kinds of mites. One female T. pyri can kill hundreds of red spider mites during her lifetime. Viktor Sýkora took the photograph using a scanning electron microscope, then colorized the image in Adobe Photoshop.

The north of Chile The region known as the ``North of Chile" occupies an area equivalent in size to two thirds of Italy.
It stretches from the highlands of the Andean Altiplano over the golden sands of the Atacama Desert as far as the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Diverse, surprising, majestic and untouched... this is the place for those in search of adventure with its breathtaking salt flats, geysers and Andean volcanos, vast expanses of land and here and there, occasional signs of life... llamas, vicunas, flamingos and alpacas, all unperturbed by the presence of man.

Some animals have sharp teeth, some have fragile wings, some are predators, some chew on grass, but they all need to survive. Even if harder to believe, some carnivores can be extinct pretty fast, if they don’t find an “intelligent” method of hunting. On the other hand, small animals with poor defense mechanisms need to find a smart way of surviving and hiding. Nature has found the solution to all these and it is called “camouflage”. That’s the ability of transforming yourself or adapting to the environment you live in, in such a way that you become a contained part of it, that others barely notice you. In one way of another, most of the animals have developed such a skill and they easily trick the eye.

Sharks and humans have a complex relationship. We have a respect and reverence for these ocean dwellers, partially out of admiration for their perfectly evolved predatory skills, partially out of a fear of their ferocity and dominance of the oceans. Perhaps this is why Shark Week is such a popular event, or why there are so many infographics about sharks. Here are 13 of them:

Sharks and humans have a complex relationship. We have a respect and reverence for these ocean dwellers, partially out of admiration for their perfectly evolved predatory skills, partially out of a fear of their ferocity and dominance of the oceans. Perhaps this is why Shark Week is such a popular event, or why there are so many infographics about sharks. Here are 13 of them:

Driftwood has this charm that makes it pretty all by itself, but artist Jeffro Uitto tames this natural art medium to create amazing sculptures out of it. Washington-based artist, who has been working with wood ever since high school, collects the driftwood for his sculptures at the shores of Tokeland, the banks of Smith Creek, or the valleys between the Willapa Hills. Even though you can’t really imagine what his final pieces will look like, Jeffro has a clear image of what he’s going for all along the process.

Alex Mapar was raised in New Zealand and Australia. He studied industrial and graphic design in school and learned motion graphics at home. He worked with many studios around the country before moving to LA to work for four years as an art director at Capacity. There, with a small team, he worked on animated short films, TV spots and identity rebrands for corporations and

10.- Tropical Rainforests of the World.

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with annual rainfall between 250 centimetres (98 in) to 450 centimetres (180 in).The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earth's tropical rainforests. Around 40% to 75% of all biotic species are indigenous to the rainforests. It has been estimated that there may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there.